SBU HAS StrONG SHOWING AT JAYHAWK INVITATIONAL

January 30, 2005

LAWRENCE, KS ... The Southwest Baptist University men's and women's track teams opened their respective seasons Friday at the 18th annual Jayhawk Invitational, competing against over 900 athletes from 35 schools.

Six school records and a number of other excellent performances highlighted the action for the Bearcat harriers. For 6 of the 15 athletes, it was their first-ever college indoor competition.

SBU football athlete Terry Jones led the men's team with his performance in the 60m dash.  He finished 10th out of 83 athletes in 6.89 seconds, shattering the former school record of 7.15.  He was .03 seconds from qualifying for the NCAA meet, and missed making the finals by the same margin.  Nate Wilson finished in 7.44 for 68th place. Wilson also finished 34 th in the long jump with a leap of 6.18 meters (20’ 3 ½").

T. Jay Sanderson finished 3rd in the 1000m run in 2:27.49, breaking his own school record by a full two seconds. 

Senior Adam Peery, competing in his first 400m race in four years, finished in 55.80.

In the men's 600m dash, former Coffeyville teammates Corey McElhaney and Andy Joggerst both eclipsed the former record of 1:17.07, with McElhaney finishing 14th overall in 1:14.54 and Joggerst 24th in 1:17.06. 

Steven Cross threw the 35# weight 12.38 meters (40’ 7 ½"), which was good for 31 st place.

In the men's 5000m, senior Austin Bunn ran a personal best time of 16:01.55 to finish 9th overall.  Tom Miner finished in 16:52 .

Joggerst, Sanderson, Jones, and McElhaney later teamed up to break the 4x400m relay record, running 3:25.20 to finish 10th overall and break the former record of 3:26.64 by over a second.

On the women's side, freshman Alyssa Maggart led the record-breaking charge with her 16th place finish in the 600yd run.  She ran 1:33.69 to narrowly surpass the former mark of 1:33.89 set by her current teammate, Amy Broadhurst.  Lisa Hicks finished right behind Maggart in 1:34.17.

Freshman Kristen Blinzler ran 8.66 in the 60m dash, and later ran 1:06.47 in the open 400m.

Broadhurst gave her own record in the 1000m a scare, missing it by less than a half second in 3:09.97 to finish 9th.

In the women’s 5000m, Christine Showler crossed the finish line in 19:28.22, which was good for 14 th place overall. Erika Anderson completed the 21 ¾ lap race in 23:31.90.

Hicks, Maggart, Broadhurst, and Kristen Blinzler finished the day by shattering the 4x400m relay record by 16 seconds.  They finished 14th in a time of 4:18.59.